Army Chief visits LoC as infiltration attempts increase again

Srinagar: Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Thursday visited forward areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kashmir Valley to review the security situation as infiltration attempts along the de facto border have increased in the recent past.

The Army Chief, a defence spokesman said here, apart from interacting with the officers and jawans defending the Kashmir frontier reviewed the preparedness of the armed forces involved in counter-infiltration and counter-terror operations.

Earlier this month, the Army foiled several infiltration bids along the LoC in Kashmir Valley’s Kupwara district and the Jammu region’s Poonch-Rajouri belt by killing, at least, half a dozen militants soon after they had breached the fence.

On July 23, Lance Naik Subash Chander laid down his life while fighting infiltrating militants after they breached the LoC and sneaked into J & K from PoJK in the Battal area of Poonch district.

This was followed by a fierce gunfight between a group of militants and the security forces at Trimukha Top in Kupwara’s Kowut area-also close to the LoC- in which a Non-Commissioned Officer of the Indian Army Dilawar Khan and a militant were killed.

The sources said that the infiltration bids from across the border had declined substantially after the Indian and Pakistani military leadership renewed the November 2003 ceasefire agreement in February 2021. However, these increased again in 2023 with more than forty infiltrating militants being killed by the alert troops that year, another over a dozen, so far, this year.

The Army’s Additional Directorate General of Public Information in a post on ‘X’ said that General Dwivedi during his visit of the forward locations in the Keran sector of Kupwara “reviewed the security situation along the LoC and also interacted with the commanders and troops on ground”. It added, “The Chief of Army Staff lauded all ranks for maintaining high standards of professionalism and exhorted them to remain steadfast in meeting emerging security challenges”.

On July 3, the newly appointed Army Chief had overflown the LoC in Poonch district and later closeted with senior military officers at the headquarters of the 93 Infantry Brigade in the strategic town of Poonch and also in Jammu to review the operational preparedness in the J&K frontier.

The Army Chief paid a second visit to Jammu on July 20 amid reports that the Centre has voiced serious concern at the spurt in terror attacks and other violent incidents in the Jammu region. He reviewed the situation at a series of meetings with the local commanders and officers of various law enforcing and counter-terrorism agencies. On that evening, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha also chaired a high-level meeting with the Army Chief, various heads of security and law enforcement agencies including Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force and other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), the J&K police and various intelligence agencies on the prevailing security situation in the Jammu region.

On Thursday, the Army Chief also paid homage to Naik Dilawar Khan and laid a wreath on his casket and said that he and all ranks of the Indian Army salute his “immense valour and sacrifice and stand firm with the bereaved family in this hour of grief”. Mr. Sinha, GOC-in-C Northern Command Lieutenant General M V Suchindra Kumar, the Commander of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps-also called Chinar Corps- Lt. Gen. Rajiv Gha and civil dignitaries also attended the wreath-laying function.

The Army Chief later left for Kargil to take part in the silver jubilee celebrations of Kargil Vijay Diwas. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is also scheduled to visit Kargil on Friday to pay homage to the fallen soldiers and participate in the Kargil Vijay Diwas celebration.

Meanwhile, the J&K police have arrested two alleged Overground Workers (OGWs) of the militants for their involvement in a terror attack in which five army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, were killed and five others injured in the Machedi area of J&K’s Kathua district on July 8.

The accused have been identified as Liaquat Ali alias Pawu and Mool Raj alias Jenju who, the police claimed, were found to have deliberately withheld crucial information, thereby obstructing efforts to prevent terrorist actions. They have been booked under 61(1) (Criminal conspiracy), 113 (Terrorist act) , 147 (Waging, or attempting to wage war against Government of India), 150 (Concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the EIMCO (Egress and Internal Movement Control) Act at the district’s Malhar police station, the police said.